BILL NUMBER: AB 1520	CHAPTERED  10/10/99

	CHAPTER   920
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   OCTOBER 10, 1999
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR   OCTOBER 9, 1999
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY   SEPTEMBER 9, 1999
	PASSED THE SENATE   SEPTEMBER 7, 1999
	AMENDED IN SENATE   SEPTEMBER 1, 1999
	AMENDED IN SENATE   AUGUST 30, 1999
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   APRIL 19, 1999

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Members Leach, Cunneen, Robert Pacheco, and
Zettel

                        FEBRUARY 26, 1999

   An act to add Chapter 4.8 (commencing with Section 24530) to
Division 20 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to product
safety.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1520, Leach.  Bunk beds.
   (1) Existing law regulates safety with respect to various consumer
products, including infant cribs.
   This bill would prohibit any commercial user, as defined, from
remanufacturing, retrofitting, selling, contracting to sell or
resell, leasing, subletting, or otherwise placing in the stream of
commerce in this state a bunk bed that is unsafe for any child user,
except as specified.  Because a violation of this prohibition would
constitute an infraction, the bill would impose a state-mandated
local program by creating a new crime.
  (2) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse
local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state.  Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
   This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  Chapter 4.8 (commencing with Section 24530) is added to
Division 20 of the Health and Safety Code, to read:

      CHAPTER 4.8.  BUNK BEDS

   24530.  This chapter shall be known as and may be cited as the
Bunk Bed Safety Act of 1999.
   24531.  The Legislature finds and declares the following:
   (a) No state or federal law exists mandating the safety of bunk
beds intended for use by children.
   (b) Since November 1994, the federal Consumer Product Safety
Commission has recalled more than 500,000 bunk beds that posed
serious health hazards to children, including thousands manufactured
in California.
   (c) At least 54 children have died from head entrapment in bunk
beds since 1990.
   24532.  (a) As used in this chapter, "sale" or "sell" means
remanufacturing, retrofitting, selling, contracting to sell or
resell, leasing, subletting, or otherwise placing in the stream of
commerce.
   (b) As used in this chapter, "commercial user" means any person
who deals in or engages in the business of selling bunk beds or who
otherwise by one's occupation holds oneself out as having knowledge
or skill peculiar to bunk beds, or any person who sells bunk beds.
   24533.  (a) No commercial user shall sell, on or after January 1,
2000, a bunk bed that is unsafe for any child using the bunk bed.
   (b) A bunk bed is presumed to be unsafe for purposes of this
section if it does not conform to the American Society for Testing
Materials (ASTM) Voluntary Standard Consumer Safety Specification for
Bunk Beds, F1427-96, with the following modifications:
   (1) Section 4.5.5 of the Performance Requirements pertaining to
guardrails is deleted and replaced with the following:  "4.5.5.
Guardrails shall run the full length of the bed, connecting to both
bed end structures."
   (2) Section 4.6.3 of the Performance Requirements pertaining to
lower bunks is deleted and replaced with the following:  "4.6.3. When
tested in accordance with 5.6.2, there shall be no opening in the
end structure of the lower bunk, from the level of the lower bunk
mattress support system to the level of the upper bunk mattress
support system, that will permit free passage of the wedge block
shown in Figure 1, unless they are large enough to permit the free
passage of a 9 inch (230 mm) diameter rigid sphere.  This requirement
does not apply to openings that are below the level of the lower
bunk foundation support system."
   (3) A safe bunk bed shall comply with the neck entrapment safety
standard specified in Section 1213.4(c)(3) of Title 16 of the Code of
Federal Regulations as published in the Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking in the Federal Register (Vol. 64, No. 131, July 9, 1999,
at page 37057).
   24534.  On or after January 1, 2000, any commercial user who
willfully and knowingly violates Section 24533 is guilty of an
infraction and shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one thousand
dollars ($1,000).
   24535.  Any person may maintain an action against any commercial
user who violates Section 24533 to enjoin the sale of a bunk bed that
is unsafe for any child using the bunk bed, and for reasonable
attorney's fees and costs.  This section shall not apply to hotels,
motels, or similar transient lodging until January 1, 2003.
   24536.  Remedies available under this article shall be in addition
to any other remedies or procedures under any other provision of law
that may be available to an aggrieved party.
   24537.  This chapter does not apply to any bunk bed that was
manufactured prior to January 1, 2000, if the sale of the bunk bed is
accompanied by a disclosure statement attached in a conspicuous
place on the bunk bed that states the following:  "This bunk bed does
not conform to the Bunk Bed Safety Act of 1999.  Exercise caution
before you select this product."
   24538.  Nothing in this chapter shall supersede any provision of
federal law or any regulation adopted pursuant to federal law.
  SEC. 2.  If any provision of this act or the application thereof to
any person or circumstances is held invalid or unconstitutional,
that invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of
this act that can be given effect without the invalid provision or
application, and to this end the provisions of this act are
severable.
  SEC. 3.  No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution because the
only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district
will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction,
eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime
or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government
Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of
Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution.
